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Richard Green Spurling (28 July 1858 - 24 May 1935)[1] was an American Christian minister. Born in Monroe County, Tennessee,[2] he was one of the founders of the Church of God.[3]
His father, Richard Spurling (1810 - 1891) was an ordained Baptist elder, who presided over the founding of the church on August 10, 1886. R. G. Spurling was chosen as its minister and ordained a month later.[3]
The Spurlings held a meeting at their family grist mill in Tennessee on Thursday, August 19 1886, to see if there was interest in starting a new church in the area. At that meeting, a new Christian Union church was established.[4]
Spurling Jr held a Revival meeting in Liberty, Tennessee in 1892 during which some members spoke in tongues.[5]
In summer 1896 the CU led to a ten-day revival in the Shearer Schoolhouse in Camp Creek, North Carolina.[6] The meetings brought a “spirit of revival”[7] with more speaking in tongues. Meetings continued in people's homes after the ten days. Methodist preacher W. F. Bryant joined the Spurlings at this revival.[8] The Shearer Schoolhouse Revival predated the Azusa Street Revival by nearly a decade and may be seen as the start of the Pentecostal Movement.
On May 15,1902 the CU changed its name to the “Holiness Church at Camp Creek”.[9] In 1903, Quaker preacher Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson joined the church.[10]
In 1907, Tomlinson changed the name from "Holiness Church" to "Church of God".[11]
Spurling Jr was born to Spurling Sr and his wife Nancy. He was the youngest of eight children. Spurling Jr was married to Barbara Hamby and they had seven children.[12] Barbara's brother Billy was one of the preachers at the Shearer Schoolhouse Revival.[13]
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